Gene Davis: Craigslist Art Find of the Week

$1500 via Craigslist! Check it out here - Gene Davis auction prices here.

Michael O'Sullivan's Artomatic Picks

Michael O'Sullivan is the Washington Post's art critic and certainly the one art critic who has been there the longest, thus giving him an experienced and deep eye and knowledge about the DMV art scene. Below are his AOM picks in alphabetical order followed by the floor where the artist is exhibiting:

M. Helene Baribeau (mixed media knit sculpture) 04

Stephanie Booth (photography/needlework) 09

Brash (poetry) everywhere

Peter Byer (illustration) 08

Justin Cameron (installation) 08

Valeria Caflisch (painting and mixed media sculpture) 07

David D’Orio (glass and mixed media sculpture) 08

Cavan Fleming (painting) 04

Eric Gordon/DC Creepers (drawing) 11

Kelly Guerrero (sculpture) 08

James Halloran (painting) 08

Dale Hunt (painting) 09

Rose Jaffe (drawing) 02

Glen Kessler (painting/pastel) 01

Paul Mericle (painting) 07

Greg Minah (painting) 03

Cory Oberndorfer (painting) 11

Thomas Petzwinkler (photography/video) 10

Lynn Putney (painting) 08

Henrik Sundqvist (printmaking) 08

Christian Tribastone (drawings/works on paper) 09

Edmond van der Bijl (sculpture) 02

Steve Wanna (mixed media/installation)09

Stephanie J. Williams (painting) 08

Joanna Knox Yoder (photography) 11

Unleashed at Strathmore

There is a very cool exhibition at the Mansion at Strathmore (which unfortunately ends June 23) focusing on the unlikely theme of dogs in art. It's titled Strathmore Unleashed, and of course it includes work by the ubercanine artist William Wegman, but it is Kathryn Freedman and Anna Dibble who steal the show with their intelligent, entertaining approach to the subject.

Admirer by Kathryn Freedman

Kathryn Freedman's Admirer approaches the subject by presenting us with a sexy, superbly composed painting in which the thematic subject (the dog) shares the focus of the piece with the beauty of the female body. It is also a little funny in that the canine is standing by, ready to be called and approach its human, while the feline on the right, is (of course) ignoring everyone.

Their Wolf Ancestors by Anna Dibble

Anna Dibble's immensely funny and immensely smart paintings blend two of my favorite things in art: visual art and text. The above one tells us that:

“Felix, who’d limped into the bar to try and dull the trauma of alteration surgery, realized he’d made a mistake. Buster, an office acquaintance, pontificated about how their wolf ancestors royally screwed up by allowing themselves to be domesticated. This idea irritated Felix. He was rather attached to regular kibble and the blue couch at the Chapmans’. He decided against a 2^nd glass of Pinot.”

Go see this show before it ends!

Rousseau on Bethesda Painting Awards

Dr. Claudia Rousseau has an excellent review of the Bethesda Painting Awards currently on exhibition at Gallery B, the former Fraser Gallery in Bethesda currently managed by the Bethesda Arts and Entertainment District.

Read it here.

Opportunity for Artists

Mid Atlantic Competition

Deadline for Submissions: August 3, 2012

October 9 – November 2, 2012
Public Reception: Sunday, October 14, from 2-4pm

The 2012 Hoyt Mid Atlantic Juried Art Exhibition showcases artists from the Mid Atlantic Region: Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Viginia and Washington, DC.

Juror:  Yours Truly

2012 Mid Atlantic Prospectus page 1
2012 Mid Atlantic Prospectus page 2

Rousseau on Artomatic

Dr. Claudia Rousseau is the highly respected art critic for the Gazette newspapers, which are owned by the Washington Post and it has always been a mystery to me why the WaPo doesn't also publish her gallery reviews as they do with some other Gazette articles. Dr. Rousseau is also a member of the faculty at Montgomery College. In any event, she recently went to Artomatic and keyed her impressions to my review of AOM. Her impressions are in blue.

Every year the overall "quality" of AOM improves and this year is noticeably better looking and more professional-looking than any other year.

Well, I wouldn't say better than any other year, but I will agree that the presentation was better.  Not sure about the art being better.

There's a lot less porn in AOM this year. In fact, there's a lot less nudes of all kinds.

Good. 

The range of the quality of the work, even in a postmodern world where everything is art, still ranges from the mind-boggling bad to the artistically sublime.

So many people you stand there and ask "what were they thinking?"  10 seconds of your attention.

There are several brand new (at least to me) artists in AOM who can show anywhere right now. Agreed.

There is a lot of art about The Beatles and blues musicians. Why Beatles?  But true.

There's more video art than I expected. I never saw Tim Tate's video? 

There are a lot more well-known DMV area "gallery" artists in this AOM than any previous one (except the first one in 1999). I also saw this, and noticed that when I was drawn to something it often turned out to be someone I already knew fairly well.

There's a lot of artists working with discarded computer boards and parts. Eric Celarier is the best.

There are a lot of glass artists and every single one of them is really good. Amazing.  And they keep getting better.

There are a lot of dark room style galleries and a lot of "blue light" art. Really hated most of it.

There is a lot of artwork about Obama.

There is a lot of left-wing nuttery artwork.

There are a lot of really good sculptures. Davide Prete's exhibit was lost in a sea of junk.  His work is actually fascinating, based on mathematically derived shapes. 

There are a lot of artists who make it really hard for someone interested in buying their work to get the basic details (how much is it and how do I buy it?) This was still very true.  Even their identities were often obscure. 

I thought that listing the artists by first name on the program was absurd. 

I liked:

David D'Orio's bicycle sculpture installation.  When I was there, the radio was tuned to some guy on a right wing rant.  Perfect.

Joseph Corcoran.  Wrote his name down as someone to remember. 

Greg Minah.  Interesting that when I first saw his work I didn't like it, but now it does really stand out.

Emily Piccirillo.  

Andrew Wodzianski

Frank Warren's video about Post Secret.  Yes, we all know the story, but I was really caught by the video presentation.

Michael Janis.  His work just keeps moving forward into new and interesting tracks.

Blair Jackson photographs.  Made me stop moving for a while. First time seeing this artist.

Michele Banks.   Would love one of those petri dishes.

Ellen Hill.  Wonderful work that also is evolving.

That's 10, but I also liked:

Linda Lowery (big paintings of crying babies)

Nicolas Zimbro  (he was a former student of mine)

Maryann Pranulis  (abstract paintings)

Lola Lombard  (dresses)

Eileen Williams  (collages)

RSVP: Opportunity for Artists

Deadline: June 30, 2012

Later this year I will be honored to jury RSVP 2012 for The New Wilmington Arts Association. They support the careers of artists by providing opportunities for uncensored experimentation, professional presentation, and critical dialogue and RSVP is their annual juried exhibition open to all artists and media.

You can download the prospectus here - hurry and do not leave it to the last minute!